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Pulse Poll gaining "Nation"al Attention
The Nation picked up on the Presidential Pulse Poll this morning, with an article about the email that Richardson sent out today to our community:
"THE DEFINING ISSUE OF THE 2012 CAMPAIGN"... It is almost Halloween and Bill Richardson is offering up the scariest notion of the current presidential campaign.The various candidates for the Democratic nomination have been asked to submit "Vote for Me" email messages to members of Democracy for America who are voting in the final "DFA Presidential Pulse Poll."
More than 90,000 people have voted in the final Pulse Poll. If you haven't cast your vote yet, head on over. There's still time to have your voice heard in DFA's endorsement.
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DEAN 08!
many if not most of the votes coming from non-DFA members.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
they have to sign up to vote so they are indeed "members"
and the more the merrier
DFA has more e-mail addresses than any one candidate.
think about that
2 out of 3 or more are backing a Presidential candidate that will not be the nominee but progressive causes continue irregardless
Someone once said...
The politics of the 21^st century is going to begin with our common interests.
If the President tries to divide us by race, we're going to talk about health care for every American.
If Karl Rove tries to divide us by gender, we're going to talk about better schools for all of our children.
If large corporate interests try to divide us by income, we're going to talk about better jobs and higher wages for every American.
If any politician tries to win an election by turning America into a battle of us versus them, we're going to respond with a politics that says that we're all in this together - that we want to raise our children in a world in which they are not taught to hate one another, because our children are not born to hate one another.
We're going to talk about justice again in this country, and what an America based on justice should look like -- an America with justice in our tax code, justice in our health care system, and justice in our hearts as well as our laws.
We're going to talk about making higher education available to every young person in every neighborhood and community in America, because over 95% of people with a 4-year degree in this country escape poverty.
We're going to talk about rebuilding rural communities and making sure that rural America can share in the promise and prosperity of the rest of America.
We're going to talk about investing in more small businesses instead of subsidizing huge corporations, because small businesses create 7 out of every 10 jobs in this country and they don't move their jobs overseas -- and they can help revitalize troubled communities. We're going to make it easier for everyone to get a small business loan wherever they live and whatever the color of their skin.
We're going to talk about rebuilding our schools and our roads and our public spaces, empowering people to take pride in their neighborhood and their community again.
We're going to talk about building prosperity that's based on more than spending beyond our means, a prosperity that doesn't force us to choose between working long hours and raising our children, a prosperity that doesn't require a mountain of debt to sustain it, a prosperity that lifts up every one of us and not just those at the very top.
The politics of race and the politics of fear will be answered with the promise of community and a message of hope.
And that's how we're going to win
they have to sign up to vote so they are indeed "members"
and the more the merrier
Not if they weren't drawn here by DFA's message, but merely to vote for someone in an internet poll.
If we held an internet poll about immigration, would all the people who came here on both sides of that issue reflect DFA's values?
If a bunch of Republicans come in and took over your local Democratic Committee, would it still be a Democratic Committee (and don't think this hasn't happened)?
DFA has to be more than a mailing list. I hope.
In order to invite people thewy first have to know you exist, rich.
they have to join to vote in a matter similar to many state presidential contests
very similar rules
should we demand that they have been long time Democrats to pick up that ballot in New Hampshire?
"The trick will be to harness their energy and their money without looking like you are a captive of the activist left."
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1602
This is the view of the Democratic lobbyists and DLC of the role of the activists and bloggers. They look down on us and it needs to stop.
Oh, guess what. Florida is coming out of the dark ages. We are going to start teaching evolution.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1603
As the Orlando Sentinel put it:
""We are moving toward intelligently designed science curriculum in public schools.
And by that I mean we are leaving intelligent design out of classrooms.
By golly, Florida is evolving.
The state finally and officially plans to embrace the theory that our ancestors once picked fleas off each other and ate them.
We may actually use the word "evolution" in our education standards. All we have now is a single reference about mutation and natural selection leading to adaptations in species.
Evolution in Florida is like Lord Voldemort in Hogwarts. It is that which cannot be named."
Looks like Iowa is changing their caucas date to Jan 3. IMHO unfair since college students will be away for the holidays.
elected within party rules, in Iowa, means a majority of those present and voting. To express a preference you have to vote. We (DFA) chose the same rule here. If one candidate emerges with a majority they win the organizations rewards. It is good politics period to have a voting that encourages organizing and mobilizing your supporters and at our Democratic conventions voting sometimes goes on for hours to fill a single position in a crowded field. In theory IRV is just a time saver, but with this much communication necessary the whole project rightfully goes on for days. and it is generating more interest because of it and more importantly an honest discussion fo how to take our country back and who to leads that effort.
tens of thousands are participating ... that's a good thing
.Looks like Iowa is changing their caucas date to Jan 3
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
source?
Republicans did. The Democratic State central Committee hasn't voted yet and has held split dates in the past. I'm not likely to vote yes on that date unless Howard gives the green light to New Hampshire first.(and I do have a vote in the matter) My thought is Republicans very well might be trying to tip Democratic choices one direction or another with a date of college kids at home instead of on campus..
Republicans can hold another straw poll for all I care. Democratic forces trying to speed up the calendar have their own agenda and it is not in putting the party first.
-----------------------------
The Great Lakes Water Wars
November 12, 2007, Baraboo, WI
The Great Lakes Water Wars is the first authoritative examination of
more than 100 years of Great Lakes water diversion controversies and the
new Great Lakes - St. Lawrence Basin Water Resources Compact that hopes
to lay them to rest. Author Peter Annin will present his findings on the
struggle over use of the greatest fresh water resources on the planet,
the Great Lakes. Annin, a former Newsweek correspondent, delves into the
long history of political maneuvers and water diversion schemes that
have proposed sending Great Lakes water everywhere from Akron to
Arizona. Join author Annin as he uses the prism of the past to analyze
the future of Great Lakes water resources.
Contact the Aldo Leopold Foundation for more information at 608-355-0279
Just passing through ...
Now just what would have been the reaction to this news had this administration been headed by a Democrat?
Here it's just this bland report. Media complicity in the continuing putzCo coup is literally criminal.
See you on the other side of the morning.
====================
Oil hits new record over $90
Crude surges more than $3 after report suggests OPEC isn't likely to boost production and Middle East violence flares.
By Steve Hargreaves, CNNMoney.com staff writer
October 25 2007: 4:21 PM EDT
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Oil prices hit a record high Thursday of more than $90 a barrel after reports indicated that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has no plans to increase production.
U.S. crude for December delivery jumped $3.36 to settle at $90.46 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, surpassing the previous settlement high of $89.47 a barrel set Oct. 19. Oil also hit a new trading peak of $90.60, breaking the previous record of 90.07, also set Oct. 19.
[...]
http://money.cnn.com/2007/10/25/markets/...
Sorry I should have given source. I got it off of Capitol News.
Judy
Carter was set up by exactly the same economic forces that the next President will face. The dollar's weakness sent every commodity up in Chicago today, and throw in Iran war talk and massing Turkish troops and you have the ingredients for an interesting winter trying to find money for heating oil programs. We aren't anywhere near record prices yet in constant dollars.
if these fools use the Iran Resolution to start military action you haven't seen anything yet
5 - Didn't he just! Think I'm going to copy that into my word program so that I can pull it up to remind myself (and others) every once in a while. Thanks Rich!
Yeah, Phil, I hear you about the Iran military action. People here are sooooooglad they don't live near the States or the ME.
The latest Mark Fiore:
I look for some happy news in a bit, but first..
IMPEACH CHENEY!
WHITE HOUSE KEEPS CRANKING THE RACHET WITH IRAN
REPORT: EARTH IS REACHING
THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Just watched Valerie Plame on Hardball. When Tweety gave her a few seconds to talk - she was great. I can't believe Chris Matthews has such a platform - he has terrible interview skills.
video - San Diego Evacuees
http://current.com/items/85696541_san_di...
Mydd also has the scoop on the Dems caucusing on 3 January
http://www.mydd.com/
The punishing/revenge mentality continues. And just think of our tax dollars going to this obscene move by Israel.
Discuss this story
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E-Mail This Article Published on Thursday, October 25, 2007 by BBC Israel Approves Gaza Power Cuts Israel’s defence minister has approved sanctions against Gaza, including cuts in the supply of electricity and fuel to try to halt rocket attacks.Ehud Barak authorised the cuts, which are expected to follow immediately after rocket attacks are launched.
Palestinian leaders say the measure amounts to collective punishment.
Israel supplies 60% of the electricity for Gaza’s 1.5 million inhabitants - but last month Israel declared Gaza a “hostile entity”.
By formally declaring Gaza “hostile”, Israel argues it is no longer bound by international law governing the administration of occupied territory to supply utilities to the civilian population.
But the position accepted by the international community is that Israel remains legally responsible for the coastal strip, despite withdrawing two years ago, because it still controls Gaza’s borders, airspace and territorial waters.
Israel imposed an economic embargo on Gaza after the Islamist militant group, Hamas, seized control from the rival Fatah group in June. It is also limiting the movement of people in and out of the territory.
I wonder how long the rising big powers will put up with the U.S and Israel. And now Israel is demanding that we pay it in Euros. What chutspa or however you spell it and Condi smiles in her evil way and says, "Captain, May I?"
We arm Israel to the teeth and then it makes demands. Some gratitude! And what suckers we are.
Such heartbreak and wanton destruction is bound to affect all of us, which is already is doing.
Published on Thursday, October 25, 2007 by CommonDreams.org What Happened in Nahr Al Bared?Systematic burning and destruction ravage a Palestinian camp in Lebanon, but the media is banned and the world is silent by Michael Birmingham
Nahr Al Bared is a Palestinian refugee camp in the north of Lebanon which has been home to about 40,000 Palestinian people, most of whom are the children and grandchildren of those who left Palestine in 1948. Some, like Abu Mohammad, were born in Palestine. He was ten years old, and next year it will be sixty years since the formation of the State of Israel was achieved through the ethnic cleansing of Abu Mohammad and so many others from their home in Palestine. He told me this as the two of us sat alone in the pitch dark while rats ran around beside our chairs at his house. As I left he went in to sleep alone amongst ashes and rodents, with no neighbours around him, trying to believe that he still has something left to protect.
Between May and September of this year, a ferocious battle took place between the Lebanese Army and a small armed group known as Fatah Al Islam. From the first the day, the Lebanese Army surrounded the camp and fired in artillery, maintaining this course for months. Most of the residents of the camp were forced to leave with the clothes on their backs within the first three days. As the number of young Lebanese soldiers killed and horribly maimed rose through the battle, Lebanon became awash with patriotism and grief, any questioning of the army taboo.
Something terrible has been done to the residents of Nahr al Bared, and the Lebanese people are being spared the details. Over the past two weeks, since the camp was partly reopened to a few of its residents, many of us who have been there have been stunned by a powerful reality. Beyond the massive destruction of the homes from three months of bombing, room after room, house after house have been burned. Burned from the inside. Amongst the ashes on the ground, are the insides of what appear to have been car tyres. The walls have soot dripping down from what seems clearly to have been something flammable sprayed on them. Rooms, houses, shops, garages - all blackened ruins, yet having had no damage from bombing or battle. They were burned deliberately by people entering and torching them.
How many we do not know; it is too large for a few people to comprehensively assess. But finding an un-bombed house or a business that has not been torched is very hard indeed.
Why did this happen? Why have the people whose entire life’s work is to be found in ashes on the floor of these burned out homes, not been given any information about this - not a word? Each day new people return to find that this is what has happened to their homes.
It is not just the burning of houses. Cars that residents were ordered to leave behind in the first days of the battle have been smashed up. Mopeds and TVs and all that ordinary people value, also broken up. Fridge after fridge with bullets through them. All of this clearly done from inside the houses, not from any outside battle.
People returning to their homes sit outside alone on the ground. Stunned. When you ask them to bring you into their houses, they tell you, person after person, of how their valuables were stolen. Even where the valuables were well hidden, everything was ransacked and valuables found. Explosives were used to get through locked doors or to open safes. Items that people have had stolen include everything from clothes to cars. That which has not been burned, which was not smashed, which was of value seems to have vanished. Where?
This camp was strictly out of bounds to the Palestinian people. They could not have done this. Who did this and why must surely be investigated before more vital evidence has disappeared. A small amount of this may be attributable to Fatal al-Islam fighters. But there is clear evidence that some elements of the army acted improperly.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/10/25/4790/
The most beguiling and vexing phrase associated with 9/11 was “Failure Of Imagination.” It’s an extraordinary phrase with wide-reaching implications. “Who could imagine etc.?” Ms. Rice wondered aloud into the universal camera. To imagine means vision. Lack of vision is at the root of disasters that swoop out of control.
The extent of wildfires in southern California might well eventually (or immediately) be traced to a lack of vision - to a failure to imagine what a house here and a road there and power lines overhead and undergrowth there and proximity of water sources all might mean. The houses built in the hills were acts of will and deferred city planning. They want it - we can build it - we can finance it - what else do we need to know - or imagine? Were the consequences of these fires imagined and then ignored? Or not imagined at all as houses, neighborhoods and clusters of structures sprouted on landscapes of kindling?
As people sit in traffic and on runways - for hours - who could imagine it would be like this? Was it failure of imagination that had money diverted and designs denied for smart growth and mass transit? Were there other priorities at work in decision-making? If so, something different than imagination failed.
In the coming days there will be high drama and public prayers - the governor will be praised as a man of action even as half of his national guard are in Iraq - comparisons to Katrina will be made - fingers will try to be pointed but the noble smiles and stifled tears of the good-hearted homeless homeowners and the irritated squint of the governor will put a stop to that. We will rebuild. Intrepid - forward - and most likely without vision or imagination.
Failure of Imagination tries to forgive a multitude of sins. Did anyone imagine what an American army on the Arabian peninsula might mean? Or what an invasion of Iraq would mean? Did imagination fail when the government sent paid armies to the frontlines? Who could imagine it would cause increased rage and resentment or that anymore rage and resentment in Iraq was even possible?
After election 2000 many of us succeeded in imagining what was in store for us. We did not get a seat at the table where decisions were bought and paid for. We were put into free speech zones and dubbed focus groups. Our imaginations did not fail - but what good has it done?
Failure of Imagination is conscious failure. The shrug and the responsorial hymn of “who knew?” has expired. Does anyone need to imagine what bombing Iran will do?
9. Floridagal.....right! Good for posting it.
I've been saying, DLC promotes the "just say it, for the politics, just don't do it in reality". And folks continuously keep beating their head saying "why do we get all talk, no action?" This is the what we have been seeing over and over. Some think it's just the NeoCons that use issues for votes, giving empty speak.
This was a one of my fav lines that was quoted by DLC other CoFounder with Al From, Bruce Reed. They think it's A OK to say things to get votes and support, just not ok to actually believe in it and want to do something about it. They think in reality that things like Global Warming and the environment are "funny" and mock.
"By Ezra Klein
Issue Date: 04.08.06
Snip
Out of office, Gore’s passion for issues hasn’t changed. Indeed, it has intensified, the excitement of a wonk whose obsessions have suddenly exploded into relevancy. Bruce Reed, president of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council (the DLC, which Gore was once closely identified with) and former-domestic policy advisor in the Clinton White House, laughed that 'it’s not the politics of climate change that made him want to do a documentary on it. For 25 years he’s tried to get people interested. … This is a guy who, in the late 1980’s, went to the South Pole and brought back home movies of penguins playing on the ice surrounded by senators in parkas and wrote about it for The New Republic.'"
Using Color Psychology to Sell Your Home
When painting your home for resale, choosing the right colors can make a huge difference in your paycheck at closing. For instance, did you know that the exterior color of houses selling most quickly is a certain shade of yellow, but that choosing the wrong shade of yellow can kill a sale?... http://ezinearticles.com/?Using-Color-Ps...
Testing toys for lead... http://www.fresnobee.com/263/v-printerfr...
Picture of a very worried little girl
Marley Rodriguez, 4, has her doll, Candace, tested for lead Tuesday at the Tulare County Health Center. Tulare County health officials say parents have expressed concern about the recent rash of recalls involving toys made in China. ...see photo here: http://media.fresnobee.com/smedia/2007/1...
Run, Al, Run!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IilVx_gr6...
“Paul’s memory keeps coming back to us ... as a reminder to always think about what the end result of what we are doing up here is,” said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who delivered the eulogy at Wellstone’s memorial service.
“Paul had a great line about the future belonging to those with passion,” Harkin said. “And no one had more passion for justice and fairness and economic opportunity for those on the bottom.”
For all of Wellstone’s impressive rhetoric — he’s credited with the phrase “I represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party,” which became a rallying cry for Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign — he knew words meant nothing without well-trained activists behind them.
After his death, a group led by his surviving children formed Wellstone Action, a nonprofit organization dedicated to training new progressive leaders with its centerpiece Camp Wellstone, a traveling seminar for potential candidates and volunteers.
Already, Wellstone Action has signed up more than 100,000 members and trained more than 15,000 leaders and activists, according to Executive Director Jeff Blodgett, a student of Wellstone’s when he was a professor at Minnesota’s Carleton College.
“Paul Wellstone put to bed the idea that if you are a progressive and a liberal, you could just run elections halfway and just give yourself a pat on the back for fighting the good fight,” said Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), a Wellstone disciple who last fall became the first Muslim elected to Congress.
THIS NEEDS TO BE REPEATED--OVER AND OVER AND...........
Too many Democrats seem resigned to the notion that, since they don't have the 60 votes needed to end Senate debate, their options on Iraq are limited. But the truth is, Democrats have all the votes they need to stop the war -- if they are willing to use the power given them by the Constitution to block any supplemental funding bill that doesn't includes a deadline for bringing the troops home. The prerogative to bring a funding bill to the House floor rests entirely with the majority -- which, in case Democrats have forgotten, is theirs. As for Senate Democrats, they would only have to find 41 votes to block the supplemental funding bill. I'm sorry for this refresher in Congressional Power 101, but Democratic leaders seem to need it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/ending-the-war-time-for-_b_69923.html
CHIMPEACH!
http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts10252007.html
Here is a short list of the Bush administration's crimes:
- Spying without court warrants on Americans in violation of both the US Constitution and the FISA statute.
- The denial of habeas corpus, attorney-client privilege, due process, and Geneva Conventions protections to those, American or foreign, designated without evidence as terrorists or enemy combatants.
- The justification and use of torture to coerce confessions and the kidnapping of foreign nationals who are sent to be tortured in foreign prisons.
- The initiation of military aggression against states based on intentional deception by the Bush administration of the US public and the United Nations, and the intentional fabrication of "evidence" to justify unprovoked aggression against sovereign states, which is a war crime under the Nuremberg standard established by the US.
- Violation of the oath of office to defend the US Constitution by practically every member of the Bush administration and Congress.
- Bush has assaulted the separation of powers and the rule of law with "signing statements" and "executive orders" that President Nixon's White House Counsel John Dean says are commands that treat the co-equal branches of government and the electorate as subservient to executive authority. In April 2006, Boston Globe reporter Charlie Savage listed 750 laws "challenged" by the Bush administration. Not even the demonized president of Iran claims to be above the law.
- Genocide against the people of Iraq where one million Iraqis have died as a result of Bush's invasion and several million Iraqis are displaced persons.
- Massive civilian casualties in Afghanistan, which is a form of genocide in which military force is routinely applied to unarmed noncombatants.
- Massive corruption in which no-bid contracts are issued to Republican corporations in exchange for kickbacks to political campaigns.
- The theft of two national elections as documented in books by Mark Crispin Miller and Greg Palast.
BUT NANCY AND HARRY ARE FALLING ALL OVER EACH OTHER TO SUCK UP TO BUSH, SO HE CAN PISS ON THEM AGAIN!
Remembering Paul Wellstone -- RIP.
And in case folks just can't see why the opposition ... from all sides....are out in force....
....and I'm sure you'll just be mystified why MSM just isn't discussing this in their news and punditry of TP put out by those beltway folks, but.......it's the truth and Al Gore is what the people want.
I posted the poll just released in NM where Al Gore is the winner, over even Hillary against Repubs......well, this one, conducted over a week ago and released 4 days ago shows, that even with out being a declared candidate, Al Gore has the support to win!!!
IOWA
43% Giuliani
48% Clinton
9% Undecided
42% Giuliani
51% Gore
7% Undecided
seashell....SEE THIS!!! :)
http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollRepo...
PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS' PUNCHLINE
The "war on terror" is fraudulent. The cruel war and the deceptive vocabulary that protects it are a cover for expanding US and Israeli hegemony in the MIddle East and for constructing a functioning police state at home. A country in which people cannot make airline reservations without the government's permission is not a free country.
AND WHERE ARE OUR FEARLESS DEMOCRATS?
TEN MOST DANGEROUS ORGS IN AMERICA
Jane Hamsher found this little gem from FamilySecurityMatters.org.
What would you guess would be on the list? Blackwater? The KKK? The John Birch Society? Skinheads? Pfffft. Amateurs.
No, no, no…FSM takes “danger” to America very seriously: (click the link at your own peril, I’ve cited it here so you don’t have to)
10) Think Progress
9) Muslim Student Association
CodePINK
7) American Civil Liberties Union, National
6) Family Research Council
5) Center for American Progress
4) League of the South
3) MoveOn.org
2) Universities and Colleges
1) Media Matters for America
Over the past few months, I’ve gotten all kinds of flak from CEOs who were the subject of a report I co-authored about executive pay among defense contractors. Jack London of CACI International, whose employees interrogated prisoners at Abu Ghraib, denounced what I wrote as “shameful” and “ignorant.” A United Technologies official accused me (falsely) of slander.
But the man who got the worst skewering was silent. David H. Brooks, CEO of bulletproof vest maker DHB Industries, earned $70 million in 2004, 13,349 percent more than his pre-9/11 compensation, according to “Executive Excess,” co-published by the Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy. On top of that, Brooks sold company stock worth about $186 million last year, spooking investors who drove DHB’s share price from more than $22 to as low as $6.50.
Shareholders were mighty ticked, but what makes Brooks’ $250 million in war windfalls particularly obscene is that the equipment which boosted his fortunes appears not to work very well. In May 2005, the US Marines recalled more than 5,000 DHB armored vests after questions were raised about their effectiveness in stopping 9 mm bullets. In November, the Marines and Army announced a recall of an additional 18,000 DHB vests.
Hearing nothing from DHB’s PR team in response to media coverage of the report, I thought Mr. Brooks might be cowering in shame. Instead, I now find out that he was busy planning a party. And not just any party.
The New York Daily News estimates that the bat mitzvah Brooks threw for his daughter over the weekend cost an estimated $10 million. Virtually every musician that you might guess would appeal to a 50-something Long Island CEO was flown in by private jet: Aerosmith, Tom Petty, the Eagles' Don Henley and Joe Walsh, who performed with Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks, Kenny G. As a likely concession to his daughter's tastes, Brooks also booked 50 Cent, DJ AM (Nicole Richie's fiancée) and rap diva Ciara.
According to Daily News gossip columnist Lloyd Grove, Brooks was so pumped for Aerosmith that he changed his wardrobe for their performance from a “black-leather, metal-studded suit -- accessorized with biker-chic necklace chains and diamonds from Chrome Hearts jewelers -- into a hot-pink suede version of the same lovely outfit.” The CEO then reportedly mounted the stage, clowned with Steven Tyler and insisted that his teenage nephew be permitted to sit in on drums.
Mr. Brooks is big Bush donor and that $10mm bat mitzvah was paid for by shareholders!
[b]Re: the DFA Presidential PulsePoll... [/b] Are the totals being tabulated in an IRV fashion, or are one's candidate rankings moot? (i.e. Does my #1 ranking have any more weight than my #3 ranking?)
Curious mind wants to know....
Grotesque as it may be, Brooks' blowout is merely one of the more visible symbols of rampant war profiteering in the post-9/11 era. Our study showed that defense contractor CEOs received raises on average of 200 percent between 2001 and 2004, compared to only 7 percent for average large company CEOS.
Compared to the pay of those on the frontlines of the war, the gap has grown even faster. The ratio between defense CEO pay and that of a military general has doubled during this period, from 12-to-1 to 23-to-1. The defense CEOs make 160 times the pay of an army private in combat.
Americans haven’t always been so blasé about war profiteering. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously said: "I don't want to see a single war millionaire created in the United States as a result of this world disaster.”
Congress could do something to get to the bottom of the DHB vest affair. Back in World War II, when Harry S. Truman was still a Senator, he made his name by leading a special investigative committee to go after war profiteers. A comparison between one of their most significant investigations and the handling of the DHB case illustrates why we need a modern-day Truman Committee.
In 1943, Truman’s team began getting tips that aerospace firm Curtiss-Wright was delivering defective motors to the Air Force. As in the DHB case, military officials denied the accusations. But Truman and his gang didn’t stop there. They took testimony from company employees and military officials that revealed Curtiss-Wright had indeed sold leaky motors to the government and covered it up with forged inspection reports. The military had protected the company by removing inspectors who attempted to block the flawed parts from being installed in airplanes and endangering lives.
We could use a spunky investigator like Harry Truman today. According to a top expert on war-time contracts, Charlie Cray of the Center for Corporate Policy, the DHB case is just one of many that deserve lawmakers’ attention. He pointed to the Pentagon inspector general’s admission that the military has failed to account for $8.8 billion in Iraqi reconstruction funds as evidence that we haven’t yet scratched the surface of the “war profiteering iceberg.”
from maryvb's link : http://www.mydd.com/
~~~~~~~~~~
reporting that the Iowa Democratic Party intends to formally recommend to the state central committee on Sunday that they move their caucus to January 3
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
other than what we agreed to in open session was that Party staffers weren't going to make recommendations, the state central committee was going to make the decision as to date (and we are barred from taking any votes without official notification of meeting and I haven't received one, as per our constitution, or votes not in person present and voting without proxy) any vote taken on Sunday will be invalid
we'd be fools to take a vote at all til the New Hampshire Secretary of State sets their date, and then next consult DNC rules
-
By rich^kolker on Oct 25, 2007 3:50 PM EDTWhen this was Dean for America, people used to come on this blog and say " you need to go to the poll at X and vote for Dean!" and I tried to explain how these self selecting polls were useless at best, and counterproductive at worst. So is DFA's.
If the goal was to find out how DFA members felt about endorsement, it should have been a closed poll. Instead, it's obviously being promoted on various candidate sites and many if not most of the votes coming from non-DFA members.
If the goal is to gather more email addresses, which I suspect it is, good work!